Richard Cleveland, Olympian, Hawai'i Hall of Fame member

Advertiser Staff

Richard Cleveland, an Olympic swimmer who helped revolutionize training methods in the sport, died Saturday in Kona. He was 72.

A protege of legendary coach Soichi Sakamoto, Cleveland set eight world and 13 American records, and represented the United States at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

He, along with Ford Konno and other Hawai'i swimmers, helped make the Ohio State swim team the dominant power of the early 1950s.

In 1991, Cleveland was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He also is a member of the Hawai'i and Ohio State halls of fame.

Cleveland was born in Honolulu and graduated from Punahou School. He was a U.S. Army veteran and retired real estate broker in Maui.

But it was his swimming feats that set Cleveland apart.

Cleveland used weight training as part of his swimming regimen far before it became fashionable.

"Today, power training is a big part of sprint swimming, but (Cleveland) was years, decades, ahead of his time," Bill Wadley, current Ohio State coach, told Advertiser columnist Ferd Lewis in a 1990 article.

Cleveland got into weights at the suggestion of an Army buddy who thought Cleveland, then 6 feet and 138 pounds, could benefit from it.

In time Cleveland got up to 175 pounds and could bench press 300 pounds.

Still, Cleveland recalled that the Ohio State "coach at that time was positively horrified that I was lifting weights. That was something swimmers just didn't do. Some teams trained with pulleys, but that was about it. The thinking was that swimmers should remain loose."

Cleveland said that one time after three months of lifting and hardly any time in the water, he "went out and swam the 50 in 22.2 and the world record at the time was 22.1.

"Pretty soon some of my teammates were getting real interested."

When he went back to Columbus in 1984 for induction into the Ohio State University Sports Hall of Fame, Cleveland said a guide took him on a tour of the swimming team's 5,000-square-foot weight room and said, "Well, see what you started."

Cleveland is survived by wife, Pauline of Kailua, Kona, and a sister, Ann Richards of Maine.

A private service will be held. Memorial donations can be made to: Cancer Research of Hawai'i, 1239 Lauhala, Honolulu, HI 96813.